The End of Kingdom Barriers - May 30, 2021

By Pastor Chuck Ryan

The End of Kingdom Barriers

 

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22; Romans 1:16

Thesis: Jesus destroyed the barriers that separated mankind from God.                                            

I.  As Gentiles (non-Jewish people) we were once foreigners to the Covenant God         made with Abraham. (11-13)

1. Paul makes it clear to the Gentile people when he wrote, “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (vs13)
2. God made a covenant with Abraham.

     "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."(Genesis 12:2-3)

2. Salvation came through Abraham’s son Isaac, the father of the Jewish people.

     “Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” (Genesis 17:19)

1. As a non-Jewish person we were on the outside looking in, until Jesus came. (Read verse 13)

• Paul States, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)
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1. “Jesus destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” that kept us                 out of the Kingdom of God. (vs 14-18)
2. The curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was “torn in two” removed.

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.” (Matthew 27:50-51)

1. In Christ Jesus we are all one.

• “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-28)
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              III. We have been made members of God’s household, citizens of God’s King               dom and no longer foreigners. (vs 19-22)